This invention is a system for monitoring and controlling parameters, such as air conditioning, water heating, unauthorized intrusion, electric use, water use, or gas use within a target sites such as a building, by a remote end user, who might be an operator at a fuel delivery dispatch facility, or at an intrusion monitoring center, or in a municipal water headquarters. Many systems have been developed to provide data communication between target sites and the remote end user, from the simplest form of a visit by the end user or his representative to the target site, such as a meter reader, to sophisticated direct microwave communication links, and many variations in between. In many cases, however, the systems are labor-intensive and very expensive either in equipment cost, installation, maintenance, and/or operation. Furthermore, many systems can be highly unreliable and are subject to difficulties caused by weather, system aging, environmental factors such as vandalism and accidents, and intentional interference with operation by various parties.
Nevertheless, there are many situations in which it would be desirable to provide remote monitoring and control of stationary or mobile target zones, such as buildings, yards, and vehicles of various sorts. It is common, for example, for intrusion sensors or fire alarms within a building to be hardwired through telephone lines to a central monitoring station. When the sensors detect certain events, the sensors send a signal through the hardwired telephone lines to the central monitoring station. The station can then take appropriate action. There are, however, numerous problems with hardwired systems, including installation expenses and vulnerability to tampering.
The introduction of wireless communication links into remote monitoring and control systems, especially close to the target zone appears to offer a significant installation cost savings and tamper resistance. Wireless communication links, however, typically possess critical difficulties.
Typically, wireless communication links are relatively expensive and generally too expensive to be used in many typical remote monitoring and control systems. This expense factor goes up considerably as the distance between the elements of the wireless communication link rises and as bandwidth requirements rise. Furthermore, typically, wireless communication links have relatively high power requirements that are too great to be used in many typical remote monitoring and control systems. This power requirements factor goes up considerably as the distance between the elements of the wireless communication link rises in as bandwidth requirements rise. In many cases, the use of local domestic power is impractical because of installation issues and reliability issues. Typical power-hungry devices have power requirements that are impractical for battery power and even battery backup.
These and other difficulties experienced with the prior art devices and systems have been obviated in a novel manner by the present invention.
It is, therefore, an outstanding object of some embodiments of the present invention to provide a communication system for monitoring and controlling a target site by a remote end user that is simple, reliable, and highly economical to install.
Another object of some embodiments of this invention is to provide a communication system for monitoring and controlling a target site by a remote end user that is simple, reliable, and highly economical to operate.
A further object of some embodiments of the present invention is to provide a communication system for monitoring and controlling a target site by a remote end user that is simple, reliable, and highly economical to maintain.
A further object of some embodiments of the present invention is to provide a remote monitoring and control system that employs low-power wireless devices within the target zone, to communicate with the remote user.
A further object of some embodiments of the present invention is to provide a remote monitoring and control system that employs low-power wireless devices within the target zone to communicate with a node adjacent to target zone.
A further object of some embodiments of the present invention is to provide a remote monitoring and control system that employs a low-power wireless device within the target zone to communicate with a node adjacent the targets zone, said node being a node on a neighborhood mesh network.
A further object of some embodiments of the present invention is to provide a remote monitoring and control system that employs a neighborhood mesh network formed of a series of nodes adjacent numerous target zones to gather data from low-power wireless devices within the target zones and present them, through a data collector, to an Internet node.
It is a further object of some embodiments of the invention to provide a communication system for monitoring and controlling a target site by a remote end user that is capable of being manufactured of high quality and at a low cost, and which is capable of providing a long and useful life with a minimum of maintenance.
With these and other objects in view, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art, the invention resides in the combination of parts set forth in the specification and covered by the claims appended hereto, it being understood that changes in the precise embodiment of the invention herein disclosed may be made within the scope of what is claimed without departing from the spirit of the invention.